E2K Care

On this page

• Overview
• Shared direction and culture
• Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders
• Freedom to speak up
• Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
• Governance, management and sustainability
• Partnerships and communities
• Learning, improvement and innovation

Well-led – this means we looked for evidence that service leadership, management and governance assured high-quality, person-centred care; supported learning and innovation; and promoted an open, fair culture. At our last assessment we rated this key question requires improvement. At this assessment the rating has changed to good. This meant the service was consistently managed and well-led. Leaders and the culture they created promoted high-quality, person-centred care.

The service was previously in breach of the legal regulation in relation to making statutory notifications to the CQC about events that happened such as safeguarding referrals or injuries. Improvements were found at this assessment and the service was no longer in breach of this regulation.

This service scored 64 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The provider understood the challenges and the needs of people and their communities. However, the provider did not have a clear shared vision, strategy and culture which was based on transparency, equity, equality and human rights, diversity and inclusion, and engagement. The registered manager, who was also the company director and owner, told us they were seeking to grow the service size, but we found some areas of the service needed more formal systems in place to achieve this. The assistant manager had recently left, which meant there were some gaps in leadership knowledge about using the electronic systems at the service. A new assistant manager had been promoted, and the management team were working to introduce new electronic systems which would make oversight and governance simpler, supporting their plans for the future.

Leaders understood the context in which the provider delivered care, treatment and support. They embodied the culture and values of their workforce and organisation. Leaders had the skills, knowledge, experience and credibility to lead effectively, and did so with integrity, openness and honesty. The registered manager was heavily involved in the day-to-day running of the service, through providing care to people on a regular basis alongside the rest of the staff team. This meant they were aware of people’s needs and had oversight of any issues or challenges to resolve. A staff member told us, “I actually love it (E2K Care), I have worked for other care companies this one is very good.”

The provider fostered a positive culture where people felt they could speak up and their voice would be heard. A whistle-blowing policy was in place for staff to use if required, although staff were confident they could raise any issues or concerns. A staff member told us, “[Management] are very honest, they are actually caring, not like a business, this is more that they care about the people they look after which is what I was looking for.”

The provider valued diversity in their workforce. They worked towards an inclusive and fair culture by improving equality and equity for people who worked for them. Staff attended regular team meetings to support an inclusive culture in the workplace. A staff member said, “I treat everyone like I want to be treated, and the clients notice that and seem to be happy.” However, staff had not received equality and diversity training at the time of our assessment. The registered manager put this in place straight away and confirmed staff had completed it.

The provider did not always have clear responsibilities, roles, systems of accountability or good governance. They did not always act on the best information about risk, performance and outcomes, or share this securely with others when appropriate. Legal and regulatory requirements at the service were met. Leaders reviewed KPIs (key performance indicators) for service information such as punctuality, cancellations and staffing matters on a quarterly basis, providing good oversight. Whilst regular audits were completed in areas such as medication and care plans, these were quite basic and could benefit from further detail to ensure areas for improvement were identified and promptly acted upon, for example the need for more detailed risk assessments. The management team told us they would strengthen their systems going forwards, using the functionality of their new electronic systems such as automated alerts and reports.

The provider understood their duty to collaborate and work in partnership, so services worked seamlessly for people. They shared information and learning with partners and collaborated for improvement. People, staff and professionals told us they would recommend the service to others. A professional who works with the service told us, “Management are approachable.” Another professional said, “All in all I can say all of my dealings with E2K have been extremely positive.” A person told us, “[E2K Care] do everything I want. They are such happy girls (staff). The best thing I have done is to move here.”

The provider did not always focus on continuous learning, innovation and improvement across the organisation and local system. They did not always encourage creative ways of delivering equality of experience, outcome and quality of life for people. They did not always actively contribute to safe, effective practice and research. Although the provider gathered feedback from people and staff on how to improve the service through satisfaction surveys, it was not clear how they used this information to ensure continuous development of the service and fed this back to those involved, as no action plan was generated. A person’s relative told us, “They send out a questionnaire twice a year. It’s one of those smiley face ones. We don’t get any feedback, but I suppose there wouldn’t be any if there are no concerns.” A service development plan would demonstrate continuous learning and innovation, and how the provider is determining metrics for success and monitoring this.